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Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward

 

Bob Woodward

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward is best known as one half of the investigating journalism team which directly led to the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon in 1974. Along with his fellow journalist Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward began investigating the Watergate scandal in 1972. Their initial assignment was to look into the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in 1972.

 

What appeared to be a simple story about an incompetent burglary developed greater ramifications when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein conducted further investigation. During this investigation, Bob Woodward made his first significant use of anonymous sources, a technique which has often been heavily criticized by journalists. One of the primary sources for the investigation conducted by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein was a man they only dubbed "Deep Throat," in joking reference to a popular pornographic film of the time.

 

The disclosures made by "Deep Throat" allowed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to publish an increasingly damaging series of reports about the activities of the Nixon White House. A series of articles in the Washington Post provided documentation of numerous attempts by various employees working directly for the White House and others who had merely been delegated to perform so-called "dirty tricks." The Watergate burglary, in fact, was an attempt to bug the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

 

In the wake of these disclosures, the Senate began an investigation into Watergate in 1973, which were broadcast from May to August of that year. The increasingly damaging testimony led to, among other things, the revelation that Nixon had illegally and frequently audio-taped conversations conducted in the Oval Office. As it became increasingly evident that impeachment was all but certain, Nixon chose to resign in 1974.

 

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were granted a great deal of credit for their investigative efforts leading directly to legal consequences. Capitalizing on their new prominence, they published a book in 1974, "All The President's Men," narrating both their investigation and the discoveries which they had made about the Nixon White House.

 

Though of less public consequence, Bob Woodward's subsequent career has resulted in a number of best selling books. Bob Woodward is also one of the most extensive chroniclers of the White House of George W. Bush, having published four books on that president's administration. He also published a controversial book about the death of comedian John Belushi, "Wired," which was denounced by the comic's surviving family members and friends.

 

In 2005, it was revealed that "Deep Throat" was FBI employee Mark Felt. That same year, it was also revealed that Bob Woodward was privy to the CIA secret agent status of Valerie Plame in 2003, a month before she was publicly outed in a column by Washington columnist Robert Novak. Bob Woodward had not revealed this technically illegal action to his editors at the "Washington Post," believing it to be of no consequence. 

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